


something might be found (to take its place)

by crimsonrosepetals



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: I took some things and ran with them, I'm Sorry, Jealousy, M/M, Original Male Character that doesn't appear, Other ships are mentioned but only barely, Out of character characters, Possessiveness, Unbeta'd, sort of Alpha/Omega
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22184902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonrosepetals/pseuds/crimsonrosepetals
Summary: He and Tadashi should be endgame. It should be a given.But it isn't.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 282





	something might be found (to take its place)

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, all I wanted was a short, simple fic about a scarf. Except it turned into this somehow. And for that, and this, please forgive me.
> 
> I don't own anyone or anything.
> 
> Oh, the title is from the song "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms.

There is a note on Yamaguchi's desk; Tuskishima eyes it critically.

_"Meet me on the roof after class, before you go to club."_

There is no name, but the paper has been saturated by the writer's scent - fresh and green, like a forest, but with an underlying smell of smoke from a long-dead campfire. The blond wrinkles his nose in distaste.

Three days. It has only been three days since Yamaguchi has been back at school after presenting some time during the winter break, and already he's being asked to secret meetings by another alpha who has _shockingly_ but apparently _somehow_ missed that the brunet is already spoken for.

Yamaguchi is his. Has always been his.

How this asshole doesn't know that is beyond him. Surely anyone with eyes should be able to see how close they are; how much time they spend together; how they've got their own little world that may be breached only by a select few. Hell, everyone and their mother should be able to sense how entwined the two are.

And for the most part, everyone does. And they do their best to leave the two well enough alone.

See, presenting as an alpha has made Kei even pickier about the company he keeps, and he ices out everyone he deems unworthy so well that barely anyone even tries to approach him, let alone speak to him (unless absolutely necessary) anymore.

And because he is never away from Tadashi for very long - people think it's the smaller male who plasters himself to the taller one's side, but they've got it wrong because it's Tsukki who finds ways to be beside Yamaguchi - it means that not a lot of people interact all that much with him either; not unless it's Yamaguchi himself who initiates the contact.

This, of course, does not apply to his team - his pack - and some other volleyball acquaintances he has made throughout the year. With them, he is slowly but surely thawing; attempting to be a better packmate and team member; learning to take a bit more of the bite out of his words.

He's even trying to get along better with the freak duo, with varying results.

Yamaguchi is proud of his efforts though.

Tsukishima pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and sighs.

As always, it never takes long before his thoughts return to the younger boy, if they ever even left the topic of him in the first place.

Yamaguchi has been his best friend for so long; has held on to him through all the jarring changes in his life; has made him fall in love with him so completely that the thought of the freckled teen with anyone else makes him want to both wither and die as well as set the world around him aflame. 

He and Tadashi should be endgame. It should be a given.

But it isn't. Nobody is entitled to anyone just like that. Alphas may act all tough and domineering, and it is expected of them to begin the courtship, but Omegas have the final say in choosing a Mate. And for all of the furious jealousy and possessiveness coursing through his veins, he hasn't yet figured out how to propose courtship to his best friend.

Despite all of his older brother's encouragement, his parents' knowing grins, and Kuroo and Bokuto's teasing that he should just go for it from even before all this secondary gender thing became pertinent, he hasn't been able to bring himself to formulate the words he would need to ask.

Even in the face of his conviction, his surety, this aching truth blazing in his soul that - as Kenma is Kuroo's, Akaashi is Bokuto's, Noya is Asahi's, Suga is Daichi's, and Hinata is Kageyama's - Yamaguchi is his Mate, his all too human heart falters.

And now someone else is moving in on _his_ territory.

The alpha in him rages, and Tsukishima grits his teeth in frustration, balls his fists, and tries his best to keep it at bay. It takes everything in him not to rip the note into shreds, then go up to the roof himself and do the same to the idiot who wrote it.

"Hey, Tsukki! Sorry, were you waiting for me?"

Tsukishima turns to see Yamaguchi walking back to his desk; it was his turn to help their teacher bring her things back to the faculty room.

The taller boy nods, adjusting his scarf and making sure it doesn't get caught under his bag strap. "Let's go." he says, as if he doesn't already know that the other boy needs to be someplace else first. "If we get to the gym too late, we'll end up walking into Kageyama and Hinata having another dramatic moment over something or the other again."

The brunet snickers a little, but a slight blush begins to tinge the constellations of freckles across his nose and his cheeks, and he brings up a hand to rub at his nape. "Ah, sorry, Tsukki. You have to go on ahead. I need to head up to the roof first. 'm meeting someone."

Hearing it is like taking an arrow to the heart. So he really is going to see who this guy is, huh.

At the same time, a lightning bolt of fury shoots up his spine and lodges in his reptilian brain. "Oh. Right. Your...admirer."

Yamaguchi's blush deepens. Tsukishima fumes with emotion.

He wants to die. He wants to kill someone. He wants to push Yamaguchi down on his desk and claim him right then and there, propriety be damned.

Then, all of a sudden, all the lit tinder in him extinguishes.

Yamaguchi deserves to be confessed to, to be courted. If Kei can't muster up the courage to ask, then maybe he doesn't deserve to be the one doing it.

He gives the younger teen a once-over, then unfurls his scarf from around his neck and wraps it gently around Tadashi's. He pulls away quickly, averting his gaze.

The brunet starts, surprise and confusion shining in his hazel-gray eyes. Tsukishima feels a slight blush creeping up his own pale cheeks. "It's cold outside, and you don't have your jacket."

Tadashi blinks twice before the earlier confusion and surprise melt away. He brings his hand up to touch the soft tartan fabric. "Thanks, Tsukki! I'll see you later, okay?" He smiles blindingly bright at the blonde, and Tsukki wants to kiss him so much, but he holds himself back; watches his best friend leave the room.

It takes him a moment to gather his composure and school his expression back into the noncommittal indifference he has perfected over the years. Then he heads to practice.

\- - - - - - -

On the way home from club that evening, Tsukishima can't find the words to ask about Yamaguchi's meeting. He also can't find the words to ask for his scarf back. The brunet had worn it again after he'd showered and changed back into street clothes. Kei likes how it looks on the other boy; likes the way the freckled teen keeps one of his hands curled up in it.

Belatedly, the blond realizes that as it is his scarf, it must reek of his scent; so much so that Yamaguchi must be covered in it by now. He also supposes that the smaller teen's own scent would have rubbed off on the scarf as well.

The thought ignites a spark of desire in him that he bitterly wills down.

Otherwise, it's a comfortable, quiet walk the two of them share until Tadashi decides to break the silence as they are nearing the street where they separate to go to their respective houses.

"I turned him down, Tsukki."

Tsukishima pauses and affixes his gaze at his childhood friend. Yamaguchi isn't looking at him; his hazel-gray eyes fixated on the ground. Hope - terrible, blasted hope - and delight bloom vindictively in Kei's chest. He works hard to keep them both contained, to keep his voice calm and level. "Oh? Why is that?"

Tadashi bites down on his bottom lip. "Well. It was this alpha from Class 5, and I didn't know him all that well. He seemed like a good guy and all, but I would rather be in a relationship with someone I'm already close to. You know, like you, Tsukki."

The hope and the delight start to swirl dangerously strong, and fast, and hard around Kei's ribcage. He knows he has to pull the plug on them. Tadashi doesn't mean anything by that; doesn't mean what he hopes he means.

Except.

Yamaguchi takes a breath to steel himself. He brings his gaze up and looks straight into Tsukishima's eyes. His cheeks are so red very red; it's adorable. "In fact, Tsukki. I think I'd really appreciate it if you could finally decide whether or not you plan to court me."

The words hit the taller boy with all the blunt force of one of Hinata's demon spikes. He feels about as taken aback as when Yamaguchi yelled at him for the first time. "Wh-wha-huh?"

Whatever bravado had inspired Tadashi to be so forward leaves him in the quickest rush and he looks down at the ground again and begins to fluster, anxiously toying with the ends of Tsukishima's scarf still around his neck. "I just - I mean - I didn't - it doesn't -" The brunet takes another deep breath. "It's just...we keep having these moments, Tsukki, when it feels like...we might be more than just...when it feels like there might be something between us. We'd be hanging out at your house, or at mine, and we'd be watching something, and then we'd get pressed together really close, and then our eyes would meet, and we'd be this close to kissing, but we never do; or we would have a practice match, and we'd pull off our serve-and-block, and we'd just look at each other, and it'd feel like there's so much behind it."

Yamaguchi looks up at Tsukishima again; so many things swirling in the depths of his hazel-brown eyes; so pretty; so submissive; so sad, but so hopeful. It makes Kei's heart constrict. The smaller boy's next words are a barely-there whisper. "It's not just me, is it, Tsukki?"

Kei doesn't realize he's done anything - blame it on the impulsive, unthinking alpha in him - until it registers that he somehow has Tadashi pushed up against the nearest streetlight, his hands curled tightly around the brunet's wrists; Yamaguchi must have brought his hands up to his chest, palms facing out, when Tsukishima had moved forward all of a sudden. The younger teen's eyes are stunned wide open, his mouth parted into a little "o" of surprise. He doesn't say anything though.

For a while, neither does Tsukki. It takes a couple of heartbeats for him to find his voice again. He wants to look away from Yamaguchi, but knows that it's better if the omega sees the sincerity in his eyes. His face burns.

"...it's not just you. I -" the blond swallows a lump of nerves down his throat and forces out the rest of his confession. "I've wanted to...ask. For a while now. If I could court you. I just couldn't...muster up the courage to do it."

It takes a few more heartbeats for Tadashi to push past his shock and disbelief. "...really?"

Tsukishima leans down and nuzzles at Yamaguchi's neck. The brunet's hands involuntarily clench into the blond's jacketfront. In this position, Tsukki's nose is right over Yamaguchi's pulse, hidden under Tsukishima's scarf. He breathes in deeply and almost groans aloud when he catches a whiff of their intermingling scents. It smells like his own personal heaven. Like home.  
  
"Yeah." He finds himself smiling a soft, soppy smile; not that he'd ever admit to having a soft, soppy smile. It's one that only Tadashi has ever gotten him to make, ever gotten to see. "Let me court you, Tadashi."

He feels Tadashi smile too, when he says "Yes, please." And even though he can't see it, he knows it is the brightest and most beautiful thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)


End file.
